Popovic et al. 'Srebrenica' Trial to Begin on 14 July 2006

POPOVIC ET AL. 'SREBRENICA' TRIAL TO BEGIN ON 14 JULY 2006

Press Advisory

(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)

The Hague, 11 July 2006

CVO/MOW/PA277e

The trial of seven senior Bosnian Serb military and police officers facing charges ranging from genocide to murder and deportation for the crimes committed in Srebrenica, will begin on Friday, 14 July at 9.00 a.m. in Courtroom III.

Charges against Vujadin Popovic, Ljubisa Beara, Drago Nikolic, Ljubomir Borovcanin and Vinko Pandurevic, include genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, forcible transfer and deportation. Zdravko Tolimir, is also charged with these crimes but is currently still at large. Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero are indicted for murder, persecutions,
forcible transfer and deportation. All these charges relate to the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica after the fall of the former UN safe haven to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.

The Prosecution's indictment alleges that, following the Bosnian Serb take-over of Srebrenica, thousands of Bosnian Muslims, including women, children, and some men, fled, seeking protection, to the UN base in Potocari, just north of Srebrenica. At the same time, approximately 15,000 Bosnian Muslims fled the enclave through the woods in a separate column towards the government-held
city of Tuzla . Approximately one third of this group consisted of armed Bosnian Muslim military personnel. The rest were civilians and unarmed military personnel.

The indictment states Ratko Mladic, Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, and members of his staff developed a plan to murder the hundreds of men within the crowd of Muslims in Potocari. The large scale systematic murder of Muslim men from Srebrenica began on the morning of 13 July at approximately 11.00 a.m. and continued through July 1995. At the same time, the Bosnian Serb
military and police forces transported thousands of Bosnian women, children and elderly men out of the area. The Bosnian Serb forces continued killing the captured Bosnian Muslim men from the Srebrenica enclave through July and August.

From about 1 August 1995 through about 1 November 1995, Bosnian Serb Army and police personnel including Vujadin Popovic, Drago Nikolic, Milorad Trbic and Vinko Pandurevic participated in an organised and comprehensive effort to conceal the killings and executions by reburying bodies exhumed from initial mass graves to secondary graves.

A pre-trial conference will be held on Thursday, 13 July 2006 at 14.15 p.m. in Courtroom III, all seven accused will be present.